The Bethlehem Town Board promoted one of its own to detective on, Wednesday, July 22, at Town Hall during its regular meeting and then swore him into office on Monday, July 27 at the Bethlehem Town Court.
Chief Louis Corsi requested that the board appoint officer Gerald Young to the position of detective with a salary of $65,545, to which he was unanimously granted.
Young used to make $53,629 as an officer.
The new promotion comes on the heels of two notable retirements in the detective’s office when detective Christopher Bowdish and detective Bruce Oliver retired early this month. Bowdish was best known for his work on the Christopher Porco murder trial while Oliver was Bethlehem Central’s first school resource officer.
Deputy Supervisor Daniel Plummer presided over the meeting in the stead of Supervisor Jack Cunningham, who was away on vacation during the meeting, and said Young will be replacing Bowdish’s position.
Cunningham swore in Young as detective on Monday, July 27, as Young’s wife looked on before pinning on the detective’s new badge.
He’s a 13-year veteran of law enforcement and a good cop, Corsi said when introducing Young at the meeting. Later at the induction ceremony, Corsi continued his praise of Young, saying, `Jerry is an outstanding officer and he’s going to do a fine job.`
Mark Spawn, director of research, development and training for the state’s Association of Chiefs of Police, not only lauded Young’s accomplishment, but the entire departments.
`This is an opportunity for me to offer a promotion to the Town of Bethlehem,` he said about the town being recently recognized for its sex offender management. `On best practices for sex offenders the Town of Bethlehem’s PD got very high marks.`
Spawn extended a special thanks to Sergeant Robert Helligrass and Leutenant Thomas Heffernan for their work throughout the town’s evaluation process.
The Town Board also unanimously voted at the July 22 meeting to approve a labor contract for the Bethlehem Telecommunicators Local 443, Council 66, for the period Jan.1, 2007 through Dec. 31 of this year.
It is unclear whether the department will seek to replace Oliver’s detective position but Cunningham and Corsi said previously that the town is actively looking to hire two new police officers to fill the void left by Bowdish and Oliver’s retirements.
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